Many of the biggest names in tech industry raised concerns over the weekend regarding a Texas bill that would require transgender people to use the bathroom allocated for their official sex stated on their birth certificates, regardless of which gender they currently identify with.

A letter sent to Texas Governor Greg Abbott asking him not to pass such “discriminatory legislation” was signed by Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, Apple Inc. CEO Tom Cook, Microsoft Corp.’ President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith, IBM Corp. CEO Ginni Rometty and Google Inc. CEO Sundai Pichar, among other tech leaders.

The letter seems as much concerned with losing hiring talent as human rights, stating: “Our ability to attract, recruit and retain top talent, encourage new business relocations, expansions and investment, and maintain our economic competitiveness would all be negatively affected.”

The tech industry, which is often criticized for its dominance by white males, has in recent years attempted to attenuate this unflattering image. The letter states that tech company values are committed to inclusion and diversity, and yet diversity statistics at most tech companies don’t mirror such an ethos.

Salesforce.com Inc. CEO Marc Benioff was busy on Twitter making his distaste known for the proposed legislation, saying he was “proud to stand with [list of co-signers] to oppose discriminatory legislation in Texas.”

Today CEOs @tim_cook @MichaelDell @finkd @ChuckRobbins @sundarpichai @MegWhitman @GinniRometty asked @GregAbbott_TX to end discrimination. pic.twitter.com/a3GF9AFsdR

— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) May 28, 2017

Abbott, a Republican, had wanted to pass the bill, also known as “the bathroom bill.” This didn’t happen after it was met with considerable opposition from rights groups, corporations and also the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. The only other state ever to pass such a bill was North Carolina, which was then widely decried by the public and businesses alike. The bill was eventually repealed.

The state of Texas has come under scrutiny of late for what activists are calling anti-LGBTQ laws being put into effect that are part of an ongoing assault by the state against their human rights. Globally, the transgender bathroom issue has been called a battleground, with neutral bathrooms becoming more common globally yet often meeting with public disdain.

President Obama had one such bathroom installed in The White House, and while President Donald Trump has kept the gender-neutral restroom, he has also been criticized for rescinding Obama administration guidelines that would protect transgender people in schools and offices when it comes to such things as visiting the bathroom. The issues is a global one, with Thailand once trying to accommodate its significant transgender community with “pink toilets,” while such left-liberal leaning initiatives have also been lambasted by social-justice skeptics as being “trans tyranny.”

The transgender rights issue has been at the forefront of human rights debates for some time now, relating mostly to bathroom entitlements, discrimination in the workplace, America’s strict conditions regarding sex-reassignment surgery, hate crimes and even the correct language used for a particular gender identity. Besides human rights groups, the tech industry has perhaps been the transgender person’s biggest supporter on many rights issues.

Image: Ted Eytan via Flickr